means that it takes more energy to digest protein. So you burn
ex tra c alories wit ho ut doin g a da r ned thing. T here f o re ,
i n c reasing your protein intake at the expense of carbs will be
like a calorie reduction. Yep, more protein in your diet means
you burn more calories. In fact, research indicates that a high-
p rotein meal boosts postmeal thermic activity by 100 perc e n t
over what you get with a high-carb meal (A m Col Nutr,
21(1):55-61; 2002). You’re actually stoking your metabolism by
including protein foods (water can do that to; more on that
later). And, as you know, protein also helps you build and
maintain more muscle. But here ’s something you may not
know: The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn,
even at rest. Plus, you get another metabolic boost as higher-
p rotein diets help maintain thyroid hormone. It all adds up to
more metabolic momentum that converts bodyfat to energy (J
Nutr, 133:411-417; 2003).
Wow! That all sounds great, but don’t fall into the trap of
t rying to eat all protein all the time. Carbs are important too,
v e ry important. If you eat too much protein and not enough
carbs, your body has to convert protein to glucose for energy.
Glucose helps your muscles function as well as your brain, so
i t ’s absolutely critical! If you limit your carbs too much, your
b o dy m u st c o nv er t p ro tei n t o f u el, w hic h is ca ll e d
gluconeogenesis, and that results in waste products, many of
which are toxic. Can you guess where your body stores a lot of
those toxins? Yep, fat tissue.
So too much protein can make it more difficult to burn fat.
But so can too many carb calories because that’s excess fuel.
And what about fat? Believe it or not, it can be an ally in your
battle to burn bodyfat and increase lean tissue—as long as you
don’t get too much. (Don’t worry, we’ll show you how to get the
p e rfect X-treme Lean percentages of all the macro n u t r i e n t s
l a t e r.) When you supply your system with fat—around 25
p e rcent of your total calories—you stoke the fat-burn i n g
f u rnace even more. One reason is that when a little fat is
available as a fuel source for daily activity, it teaches your body
frankie
(Frankie)
#1